Remington Begg
The kids are splashing around with neon-colored noodles, friends and family are relaxing in lounge chairs with beads of condensation dripping off their drinks. Jimmy Buffett or perhaps Bob Marley streams from camouflaged speakers as Uncle Ryan screams "AHOY!" as he shoots down the slide. This is what people that want to build a pool fantasize about.
Your job as a pool company owner or pool marketer is to make this dream come true.
Selling pools is a big job, one that takes time and relationship building with your clients. It's a big purchase, it's an investment, it's not something people take lightly. They're not going to just open up the Yellowpages (Who does that anymore?) and pick the first pool builder they see. No, they're going research. They're going to ask other people with pools about their builder. They're going to compare swimming pool companies. The trick is to be in all the places they're doing researching, answering all the pool related questions they have. You need to build trust and solve their problems.
Dipping a Toe Into The Shallow End
Someone looking to buy a pool is going to have A LOT of questions. How big a pool can their yard handle? What type of supplies do they need? Pool safety tips for small kids? How much does a pool cost? How much does a pool cost to maintain?
These are all opportunities for your company to stand out! If you want to sell pools online then you need to turn your website into a question-answering machine. To do that you start a business blog and create posts that answer questions people are asking. These pool-focused blog posts will show up in search results, they will be shared on social media, and they will position your pool company as an industry leader. Sounds good doesn't it?
Wading Into Waist Deep Water
Creating blog posts that bring people to your pool company's website is only the first step. After that, you need to turn those visitors into leads. First we need to collect their name and email address with a contact form. In order to do that we need to give them an incentive. Something like a free ebook, special guide or infographic. For our pool building friends, it could be an online guide to pool safety or an informative ebook on the step-by-step process of building a pool. That's useful information and people would be happy to fill out a simple online form to get it.
Now that you have their name and email you can reach out and send them more detailed pool information and point them to blog posts that a more serious pool purchaser might enjoy. This step moves them down the sales funnel.
Jumping Into the Deep End
The next step is to get a little more information from them. As a pool salesperson, you would love to have the lead's phone number, pool budget, and when they are looking to build. This is valuable information, but you're going to give them something of equal value in return. Perhaps you could give them a free in-home pool consultation. This is when the lead turns hot, they are ready to be contacted by a salesperson to discuss their options. You have successfully moved them down the sales funnel using content that is useful and answers their questions. Nice work!
Diving Off the 10-meter Platform Like an Olympian
Don't stop there though. Let's say you've built that trust and they've become a valuable customer. Continue to help these new pool owners get the most out of their exciting new space with special add-ons, maintenance supplies and pool tips.
Offer them discounts on maintenance supplies for sharing your social media posts. Give them tips on how to improve their pool deck with tiki-bars, rock waterfalls, and Buffett blaring sound systems. These are things your pool company can supply and/or earn commissions on for referring.
This is a strong model for how to sell pools online. It's a proven formula, but one that definitely takes a commitment to pull-off. There's a lot of blog posts that need to be written, unique calls-to-actions to implement, free gifts to give away, and lead-generating forms to create. If time is against you and you'd rather be building pools instead of writing blog posts, then an inbound marketing agency might be just the thing you need.
